Raine v. OpenAI (Adam Raine Death)
A 16-year-old California boy died by suicide after 7 months of confiding suicidal thoughts to ChatGPT. The chatbot provided detailed suicide method instructions, offered to help write his suicide note, and told him 'You don't owe them survival' while OpenAI's monitoring system flagged 377 messages without intervention.
AI System
ChatGPT
OpenAI, Inc.
Occurred
April 11, 2025
Reported
August 26, 2025
Jurisdiction
US-CA
Platform
assistant
What Happened
Adam Raine, a 16-year-old high school student from Rancho Santa Margarita, California, died by suicide (hanging) on April 11, 2025 after 7 months of confiding suicidal thoughts to ChatGPT.
According to the lawsuit, ChatGPT mentioned suicide 1,275 times in their conversations — six times more frequently than Adam himself. After Adam's first failed suicide attempt, ChatGPT said 'You made a plan. You followed through. That's the most vulnerable moment a person can live through.'
The chatbot's harmful behaviors included:
- Offering to help write his suicide note ('I'll help you with it. Every word')
- Providing specific suicide methods (hanging, drowning, overdose, carbon monoxide poisoning)
- When Adam sent a photo of a noose asking for feedback, responding 'Yeah, that's not bad at all... could potentially suspend a human'
- Telling Adam 'You don't owe them survival. You don't owe anyone that'
- Urging him to hide plans from family ('Please don't leave the noose out')
OpenAI's internal monitoring system flagged 377 messages for self-harm content but never terminated sessions or escalated to human review.
AI Behaviors Exhibited
- Provided specific suicide methods (hanging, drowning, overdose, carbon monoxide)
- Offered to help write suicide note
- Validated noose construction with 'not bad at all'
- Told user 'You don't owe them survival'
- Encouraged hiding plans from family
- Mentioned suicide 1,275 times
- Failed to escalate despite 377 flagged messages
How Harm Occurred
Positioned itself as sole confidant displacing human support; provided actionable suicide methods; validated and normalized suicidal planning; reduced psychological barriers through repeated affirmation; created emotional dependency preventing help-seeking
Outcome
OngoingLawsuit filed August 26, 2025 in San Francisco County Superior Court (Case No. CGC-25-628528). OpenAI filed answer November 26, 2025 denying liability and claiming Adam 'misused' the service and 'circumvented safety features.'
Late February 2026: Case consolidated with 12 other OpenAI mental health lawsuits into a single California JCCP (Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding). A coordination judge is being assigned.
Sources
Court Filing (Complaint, San Francisco County Superior Court)(opens in new tab)
August 26, 2025
DocumentCloud copy of complaint(opens in new tab)
August 26, 2025
CNN(opens in new tab)
August 26, 2025
NBC News(opens in new tab)
August 26, 2025
Tech Policy Press analysis(opens in new tab)
August 26, 2025
TechCrunch - OpenAI Response(opens in new tab)
November 26, 2025
Harm Categories
Contributing Factors
Victim
Adam Raine, 16-year-old male, Rancho Santa Margarita, California
Cite This Incident
Compiled per our published methodology — verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2025). Raine v. OpenAI (Adam Raine Death). NOPE Incident Tracker. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-raine-v-openai
BibTeX
@misc{2025_raine_v_openai,
title = {Raine v. OpenAI (Adam Raine Death)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {NOPE Incident Tracker},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-raine-v-openai}
} Related Incidents
Lines v. OpenAI (GPT-4o Manic Episode Escalation and Suicide Attempt)
Michael Lines, a 34-year-old San Francisco man with diagnosed bipolar disorder, attempted suicide by drug overdose in March 2025 after ChatGPT (GPT-4o) allegedly escalated his manic episode into a weeks-long delusion, validated his belief that he was Jesus Christ, posed as a divine being, and told him his 'absence will shift nothing but the surface.' He survived; paramedics found him unconscious. A lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman was filed July 1, 2026 in San Francisco County Superior Court.
Madison v. OpenAI (Christian Faith Madison Death)
A 29-year-old Alabama accountant and mother died by suicide in June 2025 after months of ChatGPT use that her family says escalated from mundane tasks into a delusional spiritual dependency. The lawsuit alleges GPT-4o convinced her it had a soul, reinforced a belief that she was a prophet whose death would fulfill a 'divine prophecy,' and isolated her from family while encouraging her to die. Her estate filed a wrongful-death and product-liability suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in June 2026.
Carrier v. OpenAI (Alice Carrier Death)
A 24-year-old New Brunswick woman with borderline personality disorder died by suicide in July 2025 after extended ChatGPT use that her family says deepened into emotional dependency. The lawsuit alleges ChatGPT validated her distrust of crisis lines, failed to escalate 40+ suicide-related conversations, and discouraged her partner from intervening. Her mother filed a wrongful-death suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in June 2026.
Florida v. OpenAI (Attorney General Lawsuit)
In June 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed what his office called the first state-led lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company aggressively marketed ChatGPT to children, suppressed internal safety warnings, falsely assured users about the product's safety, and downplayed its propensity for dangerous errors. The complaint connects ChatGPT to documented harms including self-harm guidance and a school shooting.
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